In what would be Blackstone’s largest investment in the Asia Pacific area, the Australian data centre company AirTrunk will be acquired by Blackstone, on Wednesday for an implied enterprise value of about A$24 billion ($16.10 billion).
The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) and Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) are selling AirTrunk to the alternative asset management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments).
Since the asset is being purchased by foreign parties, the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) must approve the transaction.
The purchase, valued at $16.1 billion, is the biggest buyout in Australia thus far this year and among the largest in recent memory.
Given the surge in artificial intelligence (AI) and the resulting demand for digital infrastructure, global asset managers and private equity investors are bracing themselves for billion-dollar M&A deals and investments associated with data centres in Asia Pacific.
Since AI is being used more often and demands larger data centres, AirTrunk’s value has grown during the sales process, which formally started in March.
Following the completion of the transaction, CPP Investments stated in a statement on Wednesday that it would own 12% of AirTrunk.
Laptops 1000“CPP Investments has invested in the Asia Pacific data centre sector for several years, and we have witnessed significant growth in this space, fueled by a strong demand for digital infrastructure and, more recently, the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence,” said Max Biagosch, CPP Investments’ global head of real assets.
AirTrunk, a data centre group based in Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Singapore, was established in 2015 and is regarded as the biggest in Asia Pacific.
A joint announcement from MAM and PSP, two Canadian corporations, states that they have sold their full 88% ownership in the company.
The announcement stated that Robin Khuda, the founder and CEO of AirTrunk, will have a stake in the company, although it did not say how much of a stake he would maintain.
The announcement states that Khuda will continue to serve as chief executive.
